


Slip of the Tongue

by orphan_account



Category: Star Ocean: The Second Story
Genre: Community: temps_mort, Crush, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-01
Updated: 2009-12-01
Packaged: 2017-10-04 01:50:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Both Rena and Precis manage to surprise each other over some hot cocoa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slip of the Tongue

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for [Temps Mort](http://community.livejournal.com/temps_mort) on Livejournal.

Precis really wasn't too fond of hot cocoa, she'd decided; it was chocolate, sure, but it was too hot to drink. She'd take plain, icy-cold chocolate milk any old day. Still, she had to admit that it was nice for a cold night like that one. And she'd made it for Rena, anyway, who was still getting over a cold - hot liquids like that were supposed to be good for colds, and Rena loved hot cocoa. They'd been lucky that the refugees at Eluria had happened to have the makings for it - there wasn't exactly anywhere to shop left nearby.

Precis and Rena had been talking for the better part of the evening, like they usually did, except that the inventor girl got the feeling that her best friend was holding out on her. She'd been bugging her about it all night, and it looked like Rena was just about ready to actually _say_ something. "Come on, Rena, what's going on?" she pressed again, holding her mug of cocoa tightly.

"It's so silly, really. I don't even know if I can explain it." She shook her head. Her own mug was sitting right in front of her, and she'd barely even touched it. "You know how we were talking about brothers and sisters and stuff earlier?"

Precis nodded. "Yeah, I guess. On Nede, right?"

Rena smiled faintly. "Yes. On Nede, before... before that." She hadn't spoken directly of its destruction once yet as if she wanted to say it wasn't true. Precis had to agree that it sucked big-time, to say the least; she felt really sorry for the Nedians. "I was thinking about that, sort of."

"Well, what about it? Come on, tell me, I promise I won't laugh or anything... you're my friend, right?"

"Thank you, Precis." Rena took a sip of the cocoa, then took a deep breath. "You know... no, you wouldn't know about it. When I talked Dias into coming with us... or maybe just before then, he said something that I thought was really weird to me. He said that he wished I was really his little sister."

"That _is_ weird," Precis said thoughtfully. She'd always thought Dias Flac was a bit of a dork, anyway, although she'd never say as much to Rena. "So that's what's bothering you?"

Rena shook her head. "No... it's about Claude, really. I think I'm starting to understand what Dias meant when he said that."

_If this gets any more complicated, I want a map,_ Precis thought to herself. She took another drink, but it was too much at once and she burned her tongue a little. She tried to ignore it. "What about Claude, then?" she pressed. Rena usually just said what was on her mind, darn it. What was with her? "You still kinda like him, right?"

"Well... yes, of course. And I know he likes me, too. It's just that... well, I sometimes kind of wish he was really my big brother or something, so that I could love him the way I do now and not feel bad that it isn't the way he loves me now." She blurted it all out, and then sighed deeply and closed her eyes, as if the effort of putting words to all of it had been too much.

Precis blinked. "Rena... but... I thought you two were... I mean, we _all_ thought you two were -"

"I know," she interrupted, smiling faintly again. "I thought so too, for a long time. I don't even know why I'm feeling this way... I guess he's just not what I expected him to be, or something."

"Geez, Rena," Precis said, "I'm really sorry." And she really was, honest. Sure, she would've been happy to hear that once, a long time ago before Nede and the Wise Men and all of the destruction that they were trying to undo. She'd considered Rena her "rival" for Claude's affections, way back then. Now, after all of that had happened, she considered Rena a good friend, and she wanted her to not hurt so much. Poor Rena looked so miserable, and that cold she'd caught after they'd gotten back to Expel was probably only a tiny part of it, especially now.

And it wasn't as if Claude was paying much attention to either of them lately, she thought sourly. He was spending a lot of time down at Eluria Tower with Noel and Chisato - especially Chisato, lately. Frankly, if he would rather hang out with that weird "reporter" woman than with two cute girls like Rena and herself, well, she didn't really care what he thought. She just wished she could make Rena feel the same way.

"Well... it's like my old man always said, you know?" Precis continued, trying to be a little more uplifting. Had to stick with what she was good at, and all that. "If it's really not meant to be, then don't get so worked up about it. Just find somebody better and keep tryin' again."

"I know, but..." Rena shook her head. "Never mind. Now I'm really being silly."

"So what? Like I'm not sillier than you all the time," Precis joked. "Tell me!"

Rena sighed. "It's just that... well... I really _wanted_ to like Claude that way. He's cute, he's loyal... but it just didn't work out. He's not what I thought he'd be, and now I just don't know what to feel. Or if I'll ever be able to find anybody else..."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Precis interrupted her. She put down her cocoa and pushed it aside, and leaned over the table to look her friend in the face. "You _really_ think you'll never find anybody else again? _You?_"

Rena didn't seem to want to look Precis in the eye; she seemed content to stare miserably into her nearly-full mug of chocolate. "I... I was so alone for such a long time, Precis. Until I met Cecille and Dias, I didn't have anyone to play with but the animals I met in the forest. And when I got old enough... well, everybody else in the village at least found a boyfriend, even if it was just for things like walking around and holding hands. My mother met my father when she was fifteen, and some of the other people my age are already married..." She sighed. "I don't think people really meant to _hurt_ me. I was just too different, or something like that. Mother said it always meant that I was too good for the boys, but I can't make myself believe that."

Precis huffed in frustration. She really liked Rena, liked her a _lot,_ and she wasn't going to listen to this kind of talk from her for much longer!

"I can't believe I'm hearing this from you," she said without thinking. "Just because some stupid _boys_ wouldn't walk around with you, you think you're going to be lonely all your life? Come _on,_ Rena! Just look at all the people you've met that would do anything for you!"

"I know," Rena said, still not facing her. "It's just really hard sometimes, and -"

"No, it's not hard! You just have to have the proper attitude, and then everything's easy! You're not ugly or stupid or mean or anything, so why do you think you'll never find anybody!?"

Rena sighed and turned away. "Precis..."

Still fuming, Precis finally settled back down in her chair. "Look, I'm sorry and all, you know? But you've gotta stop feeling sorry for yourself! There are all kinds of people out there in the world that would love to be with you. I mean, look at me - _I'd_ ask you out in a heartbeat, and - !"

Her mouth snapped shut just as Rena looked up at her, her eyes widening. _Oh, man, I did not just say that._

"You'd what?" Rena asked, as if she couldn't believe what she'd just heard.

Well, there was no getting out of it now. She liked Rena too much to lie to her. "Um, I said I'd ask you out in a heartbeat. I mean, if I was, like, a boy or something..." Oh, great, she was blushing. She could feel it. She could _not_ believe she'd actually said that, and worse, said it out loud right in front of Rena... she could just curl up and die right then.

No one talked for a long time, Precis because she just didn't know what to say, and Rena because... well, how was _she_ supposed to know how Rena felt? Her face was so blank, so empty. Was she pissed off, angry, confused, or what? Or was she okay with it, like Precis was desperately hoping she would be?

"I'm sorry, Precis," Rena finally said, smiling sadly. "I don't know what to say."

"Say you're still my friend?" Precis blurted out, then immediately regretted it. It made her sound so... so desperate.

Rena's smiled widened, and she reached across to take her friend's hands in her own. "Of course you're my friend," she said. "Cross my heart."

Precis swallowed hard, trying to get the lump in her throat down. For something she'd said without knowing why, and without really even knowing that she'd felt it until she'd said it, it was really getting under her skin.

Maybe she'd have to think about it some more on her own. It didn't seem like the kind of thing she'd want to tell her old man about, anyway.

She did her best to smile back at her best friend, hoping that she wouldn't start smiling at her wrong or something. "Thanks, Rena."


End file.
